The Lazy Man’s Guide on How to Sell a Domain Name Online

There are tales of domain names selling for outrageous fortunes – some of the suspected rock star-deals include the infamous pets.com, the raunchy sex.com and even the plain old boring insurance.com.

There are also numerous domain sales that could barely fetch a dollar while others have failed to even raise a single bid from potential buyers.

This is just a tip of the iceberg in the domain name selling world, most people have no idea how to get started and navigate its murky waters.

In this regard we have put together a comprehensive, yet simple guide on how to sell a domain name online, hopefully it will lead to your first sale or improve your current sales success rate…

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1) Value Your Domain Name

The first step includes putting a value on the domain name that you own.

This will be determined greatly by factors such as how much traffic the domain receives over a fixed period of time, the simplicity, length and readability of the name, relevancy to its niche and which level the domain is categorized under.

For instance a domain name such as books.com will fetch a higher price than amazingreads.biz. This is because the former is shorter, more relevant to its niche and bears the .com suffix which is considered a top-tier domain name.

One can also use the price that they originally paid for the name and aim to take a profit. Remember to be realistic about the price as it will not scare potential buyers away.

2) Put up a ‘For Sale’ Sign

This is the number one source for secondary market domain name sales. Most potential buyers simply search for their desired name and visit its homepage.

One can take advantage of this traffic by putting up a ‘for sale’ sign on the homepage that redirects to a contact form. This can be achieved in three ways;

Creating simple webpage and providing links to a contact form.

Utilizing a free webpage page service that most domain name registrars provide in order to hasten the selling process.

Using a web parking service that will pay you to advertise on your webpage while simultaneously making it clear that the domain name is for sale.

3) List The Domain Name on Major Marketplaces

There are loads of domain name marketplaces on the internet. Most of them have a huge flow of daily visitors and they have an added advantage that they will reach only interested buyers.

Listing on these marketplaces will usually require one to pay a small commission once the sale is completed in exchange for premium services which might even include extras such as being able to add a description and a comment section.

The major marketplaces include Sedo. Flippa and GoDaddy among-st others. It is also possible to register your domain on an online auction which charges a premium to get you high-paying buyers especially in the corporate world.

4) Optimize The WHOIS Record

Every domain on the web has its own WHOIS profile which helps establish its owner and other relevant details. One should ensure that their profile is not private and that they have indicated that the domain name is for sale.

5) Make The Sale

After ensuring that your domain name is posted on all the relevant places it is now time to ensure that it sells quickly and for a high price. This will be achieved using the following steps;

Attending to all potential buyers as soon as they initiate contact, some buyers may flee if one takes too much time to respond to inquiries.

Use some tools of retail philosophy such as using price charm whereby one charges $199 rather than $200 as it will appeal more to potential buyers.

It can also help if one has a fixed price for the domain name rather than letting a potential buyer bid and in turn scaring them off.

Make use of an escrow payment service which ensures payment once the sale is completed. This could however prove ineffective if the price is low by cutting into profits.

6) After Sale Service

Once the sale is completed it is only appropriate that one thanks the eventual buyer of the domain name and un-lists the sales past listing from all the marketplaces it was posted on.

If all these steps are followed one should be assured of receiving bids from prospective buyers and eventually selling their domain name for a healthy profit.

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Very good guide here on how to sell a domain name. I actually have acquired one or 2 throughout the last year and will need to get rid of the ones I no longer use. So this article has helped! One question I have for you is how do I figure out really what it’s worth and what I can charge for it?

Hi Chris! This was such an instructive article about the subject of domain name selling. You listed all the steps in quite easy to understand language for the layman who might be undertaking this task for the first time.

You also listed a few nuggets that would further help the person who has his/her domain for sale- such as listing the price for $199 instead of $200 as the former looks that more appealing to a potential buyer despite the fact that it would only be a $1 difference.

It’s why you see so many television/radio advertisements, particularly involving cars in which a sales individual makes a statement that a person could buy a car marked down to “$199/month” because it just sounds as if the person would be getting a great bargain compared to if the same vehicle was advertised at $200/month.

All in all you did a thoroughly comprehensive, well written, yet easy to follow article on the topic of domain name selling. It is obvious to see that you have a lot of experience at doing this – a fact that also makes your article even higher when it comes to legitimacy and educational value.

I never thought of putting up a for sale sign. This makes perfect sense.
I just ran a WHOIS query on my site. Interesting tool.
I’ve know a few individuals who have made decent money by flipping websites. Not so much my interest, however, your article would definitely be helpful should I decide to sell my site. I have thought about selling and the information presented in this article would definitely be of benefit if I decide to proceed with a sale.
Thanks.

Hi Chris! Pretty cool tips on how to sell a domain name. There are a couple more steps that I hadn’t thought about. I’m glad I stumbled across your page. What’s the best way to figure out which domain names will be more popular? Are there any tools that I could use to find some good domain names that I could potentially flip for a good profit? How do I know how much to charge for a domain name?

Well a lot of the answers to those questions vary I’m afraid Johnathan ( many different variables! ). But keyword tools are your friend – use them wisely and you can stumble upon 1000’s of juicy domain name possibilities!!! 🙁

An article in the waiting, which is very good. I’ve looked at buying domains and selling them, but never got round to doing it – I definitely fit into the lazy man’s category LOL (but I’m more towards the female side!).

I have, however, sold a website on Flippa which turned out very good – I’d say better than expected! I was really surprised at how much my website was worth.

This is definitely a very good guide to buying domains and is, of course, pretty much the same when selling or buying a website.

Also, I didn’t know until I read this post and the comments that flipping domains and websites was still a good business to get into, if this is correct then this is something I need to check out again.

Ah so we have a bit of a website wheeler and dealer on our hands do we? Very interesting stuff! There is a LOT of money in websites and domain names but it can also suck you dry!

I have a lot of fellow blogger friends that do this sort of thing and they constantly point out that there is an art form to this. If you are thinking of taking it on ‘professionally’ just be aware that success won’t happen overnight in most cases.

Oh, and congrats with the successful sale of your website – I bet that was a sweet moment! 🙂